What exactly is kennel cough?

Firstly it is not kennel cough but canine cough as as others have pointed out here it is an upper respiratory infection which is easily treated and is much the same as you or I getting a cough.Canine cough does not come from kennels but the streets where the dog lives the only difference is it is highly contagious and if the dog has been in kennels is an ideal way of spreading it to all the other dogs however much of the problems in kennels is the fact that they use concrete in their pens .

The problem is that a dog urinates onto concrete and is then forced to walk through its own urine till the pen is cleaned usually the next day this can also cause other infections due to the quality of the surface being porous so even cleaning cannot remove bacteria or all bacteria from the surface.

I own a boarding kennels and use only gravel which means that all liquid waste goes to ground and the acids in the dogs wee break down in the soil but is also dryer so there is less bacteria and in twenty six years have only ever seen canine cough once .

The major problem with concrete is that the acid in the dogs wee forms small pockets in the concrete so disinfection does very little as it cannot clean down far enough .

It's a doggy cold: an infectious upper respiratory inflammation that may extend into the lungs, aka tracheobronchitis. It can develop into life-threatening pneumonia in immuno-compromised or very young or very old dogs. There are several viruses and bacteria that can cause kennel cough. Some of the causes (distemper, parainfluenza, adenovirus, bordetella) have vaccines to prevent their transmission.

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/kennel-cough-in-dogs

This will tell you all you need to know about this horrible infectious cough. and it needs to be read, I feel sorry when this contagious infection sweeps through rescue kennels as the staff work so hard to keep their animals healthy.

It's a highly contagious respiratory disease causes by viruses and bacteria. Dogs develop a dry, hacking cough which can be dangerous for puppies and older dogs especially.